Month: April 2018

Preliminary data downloaded from a remote rain gauge in North Kauai, Hawaii indicate that rainfall during the flash flood event on April 14 and 15, 2018 broke the U.S. 24-hour rainfall record. The rain gauge, located in Waipa about 1.6 km (1 mile) west of Hanalei, recorded 1 262.12 mm (49.69 inches) of rainfall during

The languid, slow-moving sloth we know today is the inspiration behind a thousand memes, but in ancient times, giant members of their kind towered over early humans, and there was nothing funny about these great, clawed beasts. Sadly, the last of the giant ground sloths went extinct thousands of years ago, and we might

Heavy rain and floods affecting Kenya since March 2018 have displaced more than 211 000 people, killed at least 72 and injured 33 across the country. The Kenya Meteorological Department has warned that heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected to continue​ and called on Kenyans to be prepared for flooding, as water levels have already surpassed the

Peering billions of light-years back to when the Universe was just 10 percent of its current age, astronomers have spotted a colossal pile-up: 14 young, starbursting galaxies merging into one of the most massive structures in the Universe. Using some of the most powerful telescopes in operation today, an international research team discovered the

Blockchain technology has taken the world by storm in recent years as a way to anonymously record transactions between individuals. As safe is it is currently, it’s only a matter of time before somebody finds a way to tap into those coded messages. While quantum computing potentially opens the way to some serious safe-cracking

It all started with a “rancid stench”. Then the authorities were called. “You cannot imagine. It was so awful,” Soary Randrianjafizanaka, the regional head of Madagascar’s environmental agency, told National Geographic. A two-story home in the city of Toliara, Madagascar had been filled to the brim with 10,976 critically endangered radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata).

It might be hard to find the “You Are Here” circle on this one. The European Space Agency (ESA) just released the richest and most extensive map ever made of our Milky Way galaxy and stars beyond. The map is based on the latest data from the ESA’s Gaia mission, which was launched with

Back in March 2016, scientists released the first audio recordings taken from the deepest point on Earth’s surface, Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Filled with strange moans, low rumbles, and the occasional high-pitched screech, the soundbites below shed rare light on the dark world that lies 10.9 km (6.7 miles) below the

Visiting the Institut Curie in Paris recently got me thinking about the distinct lack of famous female Nobel Prize winners in science (Marie Curie excepted). The world rightly celebrated the incredible life and achievements of Stephen Hawking when he died last month. Yet the recent 60th anniversary of another brilliant scientist who also didn’t win a

For the first time, scientists have managed to show quantum entanglement – which Einstein famously described as “spooky action at a distance” – happening between macroscopic objects, a major step forward in our understanding of quantum physics. Quantum entanglement links particles in a way that they instantly affect each other, even over vast distances. On the

Researchers said the galactic mega-merger observed 12.4 billion light-years away from Earth happened 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers call the object a galactic protocluster, a precursor to the type of enormous galaxy clusters that are the largest-known objects in today’s universe. A protocluster as massive as the one observed, which scientists call

A new study accepted for publication in AGU’s Geophysical Research Letters claims average winter wave heights and extreme storms along the Atlantic coast of Western Europe have been rising for almost seven decades. Scientists used 69‐year (1948 – 2017) numerical weather and wave hindcast to investigate the interannual variability and trend of winter wave height

Researchers have found evidence of a hot magma mantle plume underneath Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano hotspot. Some scientists argue the plume is providing the heat for Yellowstone and its hot springs. The plume reaches from the Earth’s core-mantle boundary to the base of Yellowstone’s crust. Depth cross section through the Earth, form the surface to

There are strange things going on in Yellowstone. Here two weird events captured during the last few days on videos. Strange events occurred in Yellowstone on April 21, 2018 This first video was shot on April 21, 2018. The rangers, coming out of an emergency car, bring a board over to an area where the ground

The Christian Bible claims people will not know the day nor time when the end times will come, but the apocalypse will be preceded by signs in the heavens. According to Luke 21, “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” will herald the powers of heaven about to be “shaken”.

After a fully wintry three weeks in April, Michigan has 37 percent of its ground still covered with snow on April 24, 2018. One area still has almost three feet of snow on the ground, and it’s almost May. But that’s down from 49 percent on March 24, 2018. Michigan still almost 40 percent covered

According to Rwanda’s Ministry of Disaster Management (MIDIMAR), at least 18 people have died in floods and landslides from April 23 to 24, 2018. “Eighteen people passed on due to disasters caused by heavy rains in the night of April 23,” MIDIMAR said. Seven people died in Rwanda’s north, eight in the capital Kigali and three

Afghanistan faces the threat of serious drought this year after recording the lowest snowfall and rain in years over the 2017/18 winter, officials said on April 23, 2018. At least 22 of 34 provinces are already suffering badly. In a statement released by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reads: “the extremely dry

The RAND corporation, a not-for-profit security thinktank in the United States, believes significant advances in machines could lead to intelligent robots encouraging world leaders to launch their nuclear arsenal through “mistake or malice”. All out war was prevented during the Cold War because of “mutually assured destruction” – if one side launched a nuclear bomb,

According to research from Colorado State University university, there is a 63 percent chance that a major hurricane – category three or higher – will hit the east coast of the US this year and a 52 percent chance that they will make landfall on the Caribbean. The team say that is due to a

Vanuatu’s Gaua volcano continues in major unrest state and the Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 2, the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) reports. Observations and satellite data obtained from March to April 2018 confirm that the activity consists of ongoing volcanic steam cloud which may content volcanic gases. Gas will continue to be smelt while approaching

Conspiracists have speculated and searched for the Loch Ness Monster since it was apparently first sighted by Saint Columba in 565 AD which banished it to the Loch. Since then, there have been more than 1,000 sightings, and according to the official Loch Ness Monster website, Loch Ness Sightings, 2017 was a record breaking year

Have you ever seen an ice tsunami? Do you know what it sounds like? Watch this now, it’s fascinating! Preparations are running to welcome the first tourists of the season around the lake of Oldevatnet in Norway. And it is during maintenance work at campsite that Kristin Sveum started hearing a strange crystal-like noise coming

Late-season Tropical Cyclone “Fakir” hit Réunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean, early Tuesday, April 24, 2018 as the latest storm in the season on record. Fakir formed at 12:00 UTC on April 23, 2018 as the 7th named storm of the 2017/18 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. The season started on November 15, 2017 and will officially

Compared to our knowledge of other rocky worlds in our Solar System, our planet is an incredibly dynamic one. Water in its various states weathers, erodes, and builds anew. Beneath our feet a slowly churning mantle grinds and spews rock. The changes rendered by geological and meteorological processes are so gradual, it’s easy to

Ornithologists have classified the Vogelkop superb bird-of-paradise as its own species after recognizing differences in two similar-looking kinds of the birds. These birds-of-paradise are famous for evolving super-black feathers that absorb nearly all light, and their haunting courtship dances (see video below). But now scientists have discovered there are actually two species. For years,

In August 2014, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft pulled up to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and studied the gritty, duck-shaped object for 2 years. Today the ESA continues to publish new images taken by the probe, and in March it released a fresh batch of data. Many of Rosetta’s photos were taken in sequence –

Scientists have identified a sudden explosion of mineral diversity on the surface of our planet that would not exist if it weren’t for humans, adding weight to the argument that we’re living in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. A 2017 study found that the incredible upsurge of new minerals around the time

Humans are walkers, and we’re really good at it. Other creatures can walk on two legs – chimpanzees, for example, walk with bent knees and bent hips, kind of like Groucho Marx – but no animal walks the way we do, with the torso vertical, the legs extended, the stride long. Paleoanthropologists point out

Nobody can attend everything. Still, sometimes there’s an event you really wanted to go to, but responsibilities got in the way. Maybe you had to work late, or you promised you’d go to your great aunt’s 90th the same day your friend decided to throw the house party of the year. Either way, fear

An intense explosive sequence took place at Stromboli volcano in Italy on the morning of April 24, 2018. The first explosion took place at 09:05 UTC and emitted abundant ash along with incandescent material and large lava blocks up to 250 m (820 feet) above the crater that fell in the summit area and along

The woman’s incredibly bizarre confession tape has emerged online, uploaded to YouTube by paranormal channel ApexTV. The video simply titled “Time Traveler Took This Selfie in The Year 3800…” has blurred out her face and distorted her voice, but it is her spoken confession that is of greatest interest. In the video, the woman who

Watch out for snakes, spiders and fire ants: Rising temperatures are opening up new ground to venomous creatures, including your own backyard. Rising temperatures are opening new territories for venomous creatures. Picture by Tigerhawkvok via Wikipedia Common By 2050, rising temperatures will be the fastest growing threat to biodiversity in the Americas, and by 2100

A strong and damaging M 5.2 earthquake struck near Samsat, Turkey at 00:34 UTC (03:34 local time) on April 24, 2018, causing significant damage and injuring at least 39 people. The earthquake was registered by the USGS as M5.2 and the agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M5.2

The object was spotted using Google Maps and is in the deep ice fields of Antarctica. A black object appears to be emitting a beam of light which has conspiracy theorists scratching their heads. The strange feature was spotted by YouTube user Graham Maple, who operates the popular conspiracy channel Conspiracy Depot. Mr Maple personally

A team of 24 scientists from around the globe are hoping to collect and store the genetic codes of 1.5 million species on Earth in a move which will “revolutionise our understanding of DNA”. The codes will be taken from a plethora of animals, plants and fungi. The £3.4 billion project could be used by

For humans on Earth, it is relatively easy to get in to space as the gravitational pull of our planet is not too strong. However, on super-Earths – planets which are similar to ours but much bigger – the gravitational pull would be much stronger, making it harder to escape. Michael Hippke, an independent researcher

Vanuatu’s Manoro Voui volcano, also known as Ambae and Aoba, erupted in September 2017, forcing short-term mass evacuation. The entire island was evacuated but most of its 11 000 residents returned by December, only to find their island covered in ash, grey and lifeless. The eruptions re-intensified in March 2018, releasing huge amounts of ash.

Many people alone in forests at night have developed a suspicion the trees are somehow awake and moving. Tolkien made use of the idea in the Old Forest and Fangorn. Science has found there is more to the fear than folklore or general paranoia – some trees raise and lower their branches several times in

Christian author Joel Rosenberg said there are a plethora of signs available which he believes makes clear we are living in the end times. Mr Rosenberg, who appeared on internet chat show Pure Talk to promote his new book The Kremlin Conspiracy, says two world wars, the rebirth of Israel and “global chaos” are the

Dr Vladimir Airapetian made his comments after the NASA probe was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral last Wednesday, with a mission to scan the sky for exoplanets, meaning planets existing outside our own solar system. The launch came days after a NASA symposium entitled Environments of Terrestrial Planets Under the Young Sun: Seeds of Biomolecules,

These pictures were captured at latitude 64, in Chukotka in the Far East region of Russia on April 21, 2018 as a consequence of an intense interplanetary shock wave. And the photographs tell more about the power of this G2 geomagnetic storm. Look by yourself, the filamentous auroras seem to shoot out in the sky like lava

The winter of 2017/18 will go down in the record books as the snowiest on record in Billings, Montana’s largest city. After an additional 6.6 cm (2.6 inches) of snow on April 23, Billings officially reached its snowiest winter on record, with 269.5 cm (106.1 inches) of snow so far this winter through the afternoon

If you are looking to make a bone dagger – and come on, who isn’t – scientists have your back. In a slightly creepy study, they’ve examined the structural properties of several and determined that the creme de la creme are those made out of human thigh bones. Bone daggers are a common tool

In the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, it’s easy to become discouraged sometimes, what with all the evidence stacking up for why we’ve never heard from aliens in all the vastness of the cosmos. Now an astrophysicist from Germany has come up with another sound reason for our frustrating lack of close encounters, and

A mystery shipwreck has been found by accident during a mapping survey off Australia’s north-west coast. The wreck was discovered in 60 metres of water by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) off Broome in Western Australia. The wreck suddenly appeared on the sonar of the RV (research vessel) Solande as it was

Whenever we’ve tried to test the effects that living in isolation without sunlight have on the body, a common thread has emerged: much longer sleep cycles. Back in 2015, Julie Beck over at The Atlantic pulled together the findings from a number of different experiments that all saw the participants involved drifting off for days at a time…